


New Holidays

by Rachel_Lu



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Falling In Love, Holidays, Snow, Snow and Ice, Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving Dinner
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-26
Updated: 2015-11-26
Packaged: 2018-05-03 12:19:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5290487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rachel_Lu/pseuds/Rachel_Lu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rose wants to see a proper Thanksgiving, and the Doctor takes her to one he knows she'll love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	New Holidays

**Author's Note:**

> Happy thanksgiving!! I'm grateful for all of you who read my stuff, it means quite a lot! Thank you!

"Thanksgiving."

His face was disbelieving at best.  He glared at her from around his side of the console.  "Really, Rose?  All of time and space and you want to go to celebrate an American holiday?"

Instead of glorifying that particular remark with a response, she nodded.  Then she decided to glorify it with a response anyway.  "You know, Doctor, you're the one who always wants to get us involved in different cultures.  This one just happens to be American."

"But all they do is eat and watch sports that day!"

She furrowed her brows at him and took a step closer to him, "And spend time with the people they care about most, and remember how lucky they are to have them."

The Doctor had nothing to say to that, because of course, he knew exactly what she was getting at, and it turned out that the same would go for him if they went to a Thanksgiving dinner.  He sighed, pretending to be put out.  "Yeah, alright," he said, and started flipping levers.  

"You've never done Thanksgiving, have you?"  She asked, grinning up at him. 

"No," he replied, "I've never... I've never seen a need for it."

"And now?"

He looked up at her and nodded slightly.  "Now."

She bit her lip and nodded back at him, turning away slightly.  Usually, after the Doctor said something particularly sweet, she needed to give him space.  "So, do you know anyplace good to celebrate Thanksgiving?" 

The Doctor made a non-committal sound in the back of his throat.  "You know, I think I'll leave it a surprise, but trust me, I'm sure you'll like it."

"You're that sure?" She asked. 

"Oh, Rose Tyler, if I know anything about you, it's places I'm certain you'll like," he said, and he sounded so confident in it that Rose couldn't bring herself to tease him about it.  So, she sat herself on the jump seat and watched him pilot them to their destination, trying not to stare, and thinking about how thankful she was to have him. 

***

After a not-so pleasant landing, the Doctor insisted Rose get her coat, which, she didn't fail to notice, looked like a black, feminine cut version of his Janis Joplin coat.  Keeping that particular thought to herself but still smiling, she did up some of the buttons and subconsciously reached for his hand.  The rate at which he laced their fingers together made her smile even wider.  

"Now, here we are," the Doctor said, bouncing on the balls of his feat as they exited the TARDIS, "Your Thanksgiving.  Oddly enough, it doesn't ever go away.  The tradition lives on until the Earth burns, and even when the humans split across the universe, there are still bits of it interwoven into society."

Rose listened to his commentary as she took in all of the bits of futuristic Earth, cold but thrumming with activity.  It struck her as odd how excited everyone was to sit down and eat, though she knew there was so much behind it, did they even realize it any more?  

"So you never answered me, Doctor," she said casually, swinging their hands just a bit, "Where are we?" 

"Why don't you tell me?" he asked her, and she all but rolled her eyes, knowing that he would be doing something like that.

"Earth," she said, "Not New Earth, we've only just been there.  So obviously, just plain old Earth. America."

"Brilliant," he agreed, "Go on."

"We're in the future, you can tell by the way everything's built, the structure of the buildings and stuff, right?  But I just don't know what century." 

"Excellent work," the Doctor said, pride showing through in his voice.  He tugged her closer to his side and turned her down to a more scenic road, though the houses were nowhere near suburbia.  She admired the amount of big windows and shocking white siding.  It was beautiful, to say the least.  

"Are you going to answer me?" Rose asked patiently. 

"You're almost right on the button," the Doctor pulled her up to a nearly gaudy looking house and rang the doorbell soundly.  "Rose Tyler, welcome to 51st Century Earth."

"Wait... 51st Century?" Rose's eyes lit up with recognition, and the door flew open, revealing a very excited looking Jack Harkness.

"I could smell it in the air!" He exclaimed, sweeping Rose into a hug that made her wrench her hand from the Doctor's, much to his upset.  She giggled and clung to his neck.  He dropped her to the ground, "Let me look at you."

"Look the same as I did before, Jack," she rolled her eyes.

"No, you've got a better haircut now.  And a better date.  Hi, Doc."

Even the Doctor couldn't resist smiling at seeing his old friend.  "Hello, Jack.  It's good to see you."

The two of them shook hands, Jack beaming wildly.  He clapped his hands together. "Alright, we're just getting ready to eat, and I assumed somebody would be showing up, just knowing how you are and how Rose is.  There's plenty to eat."

Rose hopped a little in place, and Jack ushered them in, taking their coats and sending them off to the table.  The table was not occupied by Jack's family, but plenty of his friends, men and women, alien and human.  Rose was instantly accepted, the Doctor already well known, and the two of them found seats next to each other as Jack took the head of the table.

"Now," Jack addressed everyone at the table.  "All of you say something you're thankful for, and then we'll eat all this stuff."

The people at the table, who the Doctor had assumed would be superficial people, said they were thankful for people, or love, or something else with so much depth that it surprised the Doctor.  Maybe people weren't be judged on their time and place.  

It was the Doctor's turn all too quickly, and he found that he didn't have to think very hard about what he was thankful for. He reached over and took Rose's hand under the table.  She gave him a surprised look as he met her gaze.  He smiled softly.  "I'm thankful that I have Rose Tyler with me."

The smile that lit her face could've set any Christmas tree ablaze.  "I'm thankful the Doctor came back to ask me to come with him a second time."

The two of them sat, grinning like idiots for a moment, before Jack cut in.  "That's so sweet," he drawled.  "I'm thankful for all of you spending the holiday with me.  Go ahead, everyone, eat up!" 

Reluctantly, the Doctor relinquished Rose's hand to eat the very classic Thanksgiving dinner that had been put together.  Soon, everyone at the table was talking like they had been friends for years, and they only stopped when dinner and dessert were eaten and somebody let out a cry of delight.

"It's snowing!"

Rose practically bust out of the house with everyone else, wanting to see the snow that wasn't ash, and she stood with the rest of the guests in the middle of the street, coat forgone to feel every bit of the moment.  

The Doctor followed her at a slower pace, unable to keep from watching her.  Her cheeks were pink and her eyes alight with excitement.  She had just finished spinning with one of the women they'd eaten with and had her arms outstretched into the flurry.  Pretty much unable to stop himself, he went to her and caught her hands before pulling her into a waltz through the street.  

He hummed loudly to her and, catching the tune, she picked it up, and they were doing very well until they started giggling, and she tipped her head forward onto his chest.  She could feel him laughing, and almost protested his release of her before his hands came up to cup her cheeks and tilted her head so she could look at him in the face.  He stroked her cheeks with his thumbs and gazed down at her, his eyes more open then she'd ever seen them.

"I meant it," he said, "I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Me too," She said, her hands slowly lifting to grip his jacket at the waist.  

Without saying anything else, he lowered himself to kiss her.  They wrapped their arms around each other, holding against the cold.  They broke apart slowly, their foreheads pressed together before she leaned back in to kiss him again.

"Well, it's about time, honestly," Jack said, his arms crossed, but a huge smile on his face.  "They might as well get married now."

Neither the Doctor and Rose heard.  They were far too busy holding each other.


End file.
